“Explained”: Netflix and Vox’s new show

Produced by Vox and Netflix, “Explained” is a new documentary-based television show. Every episode is different, ranging from topics about the wage gap to extraterrestrials to the worldwide water crisis.

Each 18-minute episode is narrated by a different person. The “Music” episode was narrated by singer Carly Rae Jepsen and the “Can We Live Forever?” episode was narrated by actress Kristen Bell.

The intriguing topics differ from social issues to tattoos. The episodes are straight to the point and do not have any unnecessary information that would waste time to the viewers.

When they began creating the show in 2015,, Vox wanted to create a series that focused on important topics in the world and didn’t waste the viewer’s time.

The first episode draws in the viewer by telling them about how fascinating our brains are in the way that they can interpret music from sounds. Jepsen mentions that only some animals can interpret music like humans can, such as the cockatoo that went viral for dancing and moving its head along to a rhythm and a sea lion that did the same.

Los Angeles music producer and DJ TOKiMONSTA, Jennifer Lee, discussed her recovered rare brain disease, Moyamoya, which made her not be able to comprehend music. She described it as hearing “white noise” when she was watching her favorite show and realized that she could not hear the theme song. When Lee recovered after having 2 brain surgeries a week apart from each other, she began making music again and performed on stage with R&B singer Anderson .Paak at a music festival.

2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was featured on the episode “Why Women Are Paid Less”. Clinton explains the cultural differences between the gender pay gap, including how women in different countries make only cents compared to every dollar a man makes.

An average woman from the United States makes only 79 cents for every dollar a man makes. The narrator tells the differences of Rwanda and the United States in the means of how a woman in Rwanda makes around 90 cents for every dollar a man makes. The narrator explained how the women of Rwanda struggled with a long period of suppression.. Rwanda used to be a very misogynistic country, but now women have more freedom.

Some recent episodes are “Cryptocurrency”, “! (Exclamation Mark)”, “K-Pop”, “Astrology”, and “Tattoo”. The overall topics of the episodes change into different subjects so that each show is suitable for various viewers. Even if you are not interested in one of the topics, you will easily become hooked with the visible and audible information presented.

With only one season of roughly around 20 episodes, “Explained” has received positive feedback. On IMDb, the show has 8 out of 10 stars.. With new episodes coming out every Wednesday, Vox has been getting a lot of exposure due to their new addition. Some say that the show leans democratic and is an op-ed instead of a show, however, I do recommend this show to anyone who is interested in day to day topics that are often controversial in today’s society.